An inspiring account for aspiring environmentalists and photographers.
Brazilian photographer and environmental activist Sebastião Salgado used his camera to galvanize the world.
Growing up in the lush Mata Atlântica forest of Brazil, Sebastião cultivated a respect for nature early. That sentiment stayed with him even after he moved to São Paulo and then, after speaking out against the government, fled to Paris, where he took his first photograph. When his work as an economist sent him to Rwanda, he discovered that images were better than reports at telling a more complete story about the people, their lives, and the land. He became a globe-traveling professional photographer, documenting everything from protests for labor rights to wars to environmental destruction. When he returned to Rwanda, the country was in the midst of civil war. The violence affected him so deeply that he retired from photography. He and his wife, Lélia, returned to the Brazilian farm of his childhood to heal, only to find his childhood paradise ravaged by the timber industry. They set out to reforest the land. When the forest began to recover, Sebastião returned to his camera and traveled the world, documenting humans’ relationship with nature. Major events in Sebastião’s life are competently presented for young audiences, with clear chains of cause and effect. Throughout, Hoelzel explores the theme of humanity’s place within nature. The watercolor and pencil illustrations are lush and engrossing, and the many double-page illustrations create an immersive experience.
An inspiring account for aspiring environmentalists and photographers. (author’s note, about Instituto Terra, information on the Mata Atlântica, partial list of Sebastião’s awards and honors, select photographic essays produced by Sebastião and Lélia Salgado, bibliography and other sources, map) (Picture-book biography. 4-8)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781534477650
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again.
Cece loves asking “why” and “what if.”
Her parents encourage her, as does her science teacher, Ms. Curie (a wink to adult readers). When Cece and her best friend, Isaac, pair up for a science project, they choose zoology, brainstorming questions they might research. They decide to investigate whether dogs eat vegetables, using Cece’s schnauzer, Einstein, and the next day they head to Cece’s lab (inside her treehouse). Wearing white lab coats, the two observe their subject and then offer him different kinds of vegetables, alone and with toppings. Cece is discouraged when Einstein won’t eat them. She complains to her parents, “Maybe I’m not a real scientist after all….Our project was boring.” Just then, Einstein sniffs Cece’s dessert, leading her to try a new way to get Einstein to eat vegetables. Cece learns that “real scientists have fun finding answers too.” Harrison’s clean, bright illustrations add expression and personality to the story. Science report inserts are reminiscent of The Magic Schoolbus books, with less detail. Biracial Cece is a brown, freckled girl with curly hair; her father is white, and her mother has brown skin and long, black hair; Isaac and Ms. Curie both have pale skin and dark hair. While the book doesn’t pack a particularly strong emotional or educational punch, this endearing protagonist earns a place on the children’s STEM shelf.
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-249960-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
An arguable error of omission and definite errors of commission sink this otherwise attractive effort.
A look at the unique ways that 11 globe-spanning animal species construct their homes.
Each creature garners two double-page spreads, which Cherrix enlivens with compelling and at-times jaw-dropping facts. The trapdoor spider constructs a hidden burrow door from spider silk. Sticky threads, fanning from the entrance, vibrate “like a silent doorbell” when walked upon by unwitting insect prey. Prairie dogs expertly dig communal burrows with designated chambers for “sleeping, eating, and pooping.” The largest recorded “town” occupied “25,000 miles and housed as many as 400 million prairie dogs!” Female ants are “industrious insects” who can remove more than a ton of dirt from their colony in a year. Cathedral termites use dirt and saliva to construct solar-cooled towers 30 feet high. Sasaki’s lively pictures borrow stylistically from the animal compendiums of mid-20th-century children’s lit; endpapers and display type elegantly suggest the blues of cyanotypes and architectural blueprints. Jarringly, the lead spread cheerfully extols the prowess of the corals of the Great Barrier Reef, “the world’s largest living structure,” while ignoring its accelerating, human-abetted destruction. Calamitously, the honeybee hive is incorrectly depicted as a paper-wasps’ nest, and the text falsely states that chewed beeswax “hardens into glue to shape the hive.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An arguable error of omission and definite errors of commission sink this otherwise attractive effort. (selected sources) (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-5625-9
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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